Various golf club heads have been designed to improve a golfer's accuracy by assisting the golfer in squaring the club head face at impact with a golf ball. A number of golf club heads reposition the weight of the golf club head in order to alter the location of the club head's center of gravity. The location of the center of gravity of the golf club head is one factor that determines whether a golf ball is propelled in the intended direction.
When the center of gravity is positioned behind the point of engagement on the contact surface, the golf ball follows a generally straight route. When the center of gravity is spaced to a side of the point of engagement, however, the golf ball may fly in an unintended direction and/or may follow a route that curves left or right, ball flights that are often referred to as “pulls,” “pushes,” “draws,” “fades,” “hooks,” or “slices”.
Similarly, when the center of gravity is spaced above or below the point of engagement, the route of the golf ball may exhibit more boring or climbing trajectories, respectively.
Golf club heads, such as cavity back club heads, assist the golfer by locating much of the weight of the golf club head around the golf club head perimeter. Generally, these golf club heads are more forgiving than non-cavity back golf club heads thereby allowing a golf ball to be struck somewhat off center or mis-hit, while still providing relatively good distance and accuracy. Cavity back club heads have helped the average golfer reduce mis-hits and improve scoring.
Golfers tend to be sensitive to the “feel” of a golf club. The “feel” of a golf club comprises the combination of various component parts of the club and various features associated with the club that produce the sensory sensations experienced by the player when a ball is swung at and/or struck. Club weight, weight distribution, aerodynamics, swing speed, and the like all may affect the “feel” of the club as it swings and strikes a ball. “Feel” also has been found to be related to the sound produced when a club head strikes a ball to send the ball in motion. If a club head makes an unpleasant, undesirable, or surprising sound at impact, a user may flinch, give up on his/her swing, decelerate the swing, and/or not completely follow-through on the swing, thereby affecting distance, direction, and/or other performance aspects of the swing and the resulting ball motion.
User anticipation of this unpleasant, undesirable, or surprising sound can affect a swing even before the ball is hit.